2. The Killing Joke: Everything The Joker Does
In 1988, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland single handedly made one of the greatest contributions to Batman comics since Alfred: They created The Killing Joke. Not only did this one-shot revolutionize the way the character of the Joker has been portrayed ever since, but it also began the transformation of Barbara Gordon from Batgirl to Oracle. That transformation tragically begins in The Killing Joke with one of the most terrifying comic book scenes of all time. The doorbell rings at Jim Gordon's home, Barbara answers it, and standing behind the door in the shadows of night is the Joker. He is dressed as a Hawaiian tourist with a camera around his neck and a gun in his hand. He then proceeds to shoot Barbara Gordon through the spine, paralyzing her until only recently in the New 52 comics. As if that weren't enough, he then strips off all of her clothing so that he can take nude photographs of her. Later on Joker uses all of this to try and prove that anyone can go mad like him if they go through just one very bad day. He does this by (you guessed it) stripping down Commissioner Gordon so he is naked, takes him to an abandoned amusement park filled with freaks, and makes him look at the photos of his naked daughter as she bleeds out on the floor. The events of The Killing Joke are so disturbing and frightening that this comic is still viewed almost universally as the best Joker story of all time. I find it hard to disagree with those fine folks... But it isn't the scariest! Bwwaa ha ha!